Proposed changes to the Western Australian Curriculum
The School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) has released the proposed changes to the Science learning area of the Western Australian Curriculum. The final revised curriculum will be available for familiarisation in 2025, and implementation is scheduled for 2026. We’ve done some closer analysis of the suggested changes, so you don’t have to.
Read on to learn what’s changed in the proposed update to the science curriculum and how we’ll be prepared to support you with implementing the final version.
What are the proposed changes?
“The authority has focussed on improving the clarity of the content and providing exemplification of the content to support teachers in planning for teaching, learning and assessment.” School Curriculum and Standards Authority, 2024
- Science as a human endeavour has been removed
Science as a human endeavour is no longer a strand in the proposed science curriculum. Instead, its content has been moved into a new sub-strand of science inquiry skills called Collaborating and applying.
This change is minor, as it simply shifts content from the strand to the sub-strand level. Content has also been reworded and examples included, but it otherwise remains very similar. We don’t believe it will have any significant impact on teachers or students.
One notable change is that the verb “illustrate” has been used to begin each of the content descriptors in this sub-strand e.g. “Illustrate how proposed scientific responses to contemporary issues may impact on society.” This provides some flexibility in how students demonstrate their understanding and, therefore, more opportunities for both creativity and differentiation. - Examples have been added
Many content descriptions include bullet-pointed examples intended to clarify and “support teacher understanding and provide contexts for teaching.” These bullet points are not required content but rather act as guidance regarding what could be taught. These act in a similar way to the elaborations within Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum.
We think this is a helpful addition to the proposed curriculum, though it’s important that examples are used as guidance only and are not treated as a checklist of material that must be covered. - Increased specificity
In many cases, content descriptions have been reworded. This is intended to provide clarity for teachers. Perhaps unintentionally, however, it has also resulted in a very specific, somewhat prescriptive curriculum that could limit flexibility and creativity in how you teach.
For example, one of the proposed Biological Sciences content descriptions for Year 9 states: “Organisms have mechanisms to respond to changes in their environment; endotherms and ectotherms respond differently to changes in external temperature; plant tropisms help them respond to external stimuli”.
The current curriculum allows flexibility in teaching how: “multi-cellular organisms rely on coordinated and interdependent internal systems to respond to changes to their environment (ACSSU175)”. The proposed revision would remove this flexibility. Teachers would be required to teach all three aspects listed in the statement, leaving little room for creativity. We think this is a significant limitation of the proposed revisions.
It is also interesting to note that, unlike Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum, verbs have not been used in the science and understanding curriculum descriptions. Some of the example bullet points include verbs, but others do not. We think using verbs would have been an excellent way to provide further clarity for teachers and to guide the depth of knowledge required by students, and this is a missed opportunity for improvement. - Content changes
A table at the bottom of the page summarises the proposed rearrangement and additions to the curriculum’s content. Additions to Earth and space science are intended to provide context for learning about Western Australia’s space and mining sectors, while additions to Biological sciences are intended to provide context for learning about Western Australia’s biological diversity. We believe opportunities to contextualise learning within a local context are a positive change. Additions to Chemical sciences are intended to make the concepts to be taught more explicit, which is also welcomed. Additionally, the reorganisation of content allows for better integration with other content descriptions within each year level.
What next?
We’ve submitted our opinion on the proposed revisions to SCSA. Now, we wait to see what other opportunities for consultation arise before the final curriculum is released next year. We encourage you to do the same and engage with these as a chance to have your say!
When the final version of the curriculum is released, we’ll start working straight away to make sure our teaching materials address all the requirements. We’ve had plenty of practice with Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum and are working on updates for the new New South Wales Syllabus at this very moment.
With Stile as your core curriculum, you’ll have a fully aligned, engaging science program that’s ready to use with your students ahead of the implementation timeline.
Content changes
Content that has been reorganised in the curriculum is listed in the table below.